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Insurgents kill 1 in radar post attack in Pakistan

Aamir Latif Saturday, March 29, 2014

ISLAMABAD - Insurgents attacked a radar post at Pasni Airport in southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday, killing a soldier and injuring another before fleeing, police said.

Moazzam Jah, a provincial police chief, told reporters that 20 to 25 insurgents had attacked the post at 7:30 p.m. local time (1420GMT).

The post controls air traffic coming from Europe and Gulf to Pakistan.

The insurgents kept control of the post for half an hour, and damaged the equipment installed there.

The attackers relinquished control of the post after security forces rushed to the scene.

"A search operation has been launched in the area to flush out the assailants, who managed to flee after a brief encounter with the security troops sent to retrieve the control of the radar post”, Jah said.

This was the second attack on the same radar post in the last two months. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. But security forces believe it was launched by secular Baluch militants, who have a strong presence in the region.

It was the second attack Saturday on security forces in mineral-rich Baluchistan, where Baluch insurgents are fighting for “liberation” from Pakistan.

A girl was killed and 18 people were wounded in a roadside blast targeting a security vehicle in the provincial capital, Quetta, on Saturday afternoon.